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VOL. 3. ABBEVILLE. S. C., TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1887. NO. M
Prominent Nejcro Politicians.
When the Fiftieth Congress i.t called
to order for the first time since the adoption
of the fourteenth amendment no
negro will have a seat in the National
Legislature.
There are two neproes in the present
House of Representatives, O'Hara, of
North Carolina, and Smalls, of South
Carolina. Both were defeated in the recent
election. In O'llara's district there
was a contest between the pure blacks
and the mulattoes. O'Hara is about the
color of a ripe pumpkin and rather airy.
He is king of the half breeds in his section
but the pure blood darkies grew tired of
bis dictation. The Republican Conven
tion, composed almost entirely of negroes,
broke up in a row, dividing on yellow
and black lines. The buff statcKmen
nominated O'Hara and the black put up
a candidate of their own color, who is
said to be the blackest negro in North
Carolina. The Democrats, appreciating
the situation, nominated a candidate and
elected him. The "brother in black"
beat the "brother in buff," but both
were defeated by thu Democrat, who will
take his seat without a contest.
In Smalls' district there was considerable
dissatisfaction among the colored
voters, but Smalls scooped the nomination
of his party without much difficulty.
It had been considered useless for a
Doinocrat to run in this district, which
was gerrymandered so as to include a
great majority of blacks and leave the
other districts of the State safe to the
Democrats, but the nomination was tendered
to Colonel Elliott, of Beaufort,
*nd ho nrr.i'ntoil it. Hn hntl ovnrir nd.
vantage that a white uian could possess
in such a district. All the negroes knew
him. He had been conspicuous as their
friend in the courts where he had appeared
as defending and prosecuting
roundel for colored clients when race
prejudice ran high. He had done many
' substantial favors for his negro neighbors,
and was known throughout the
district as one who was ready to stand
by a man in the right regardless of his
color. He made an active canvass of
the district; met the negroes lace to
face; showed how he had been their \
friend, and asked them to support him;
thousands of them did ho, and the result
wan that he beat Smalls about 800
votes. The result was a great surprise
to Smalls, who had counted on the solid
support of the negroes in his district.
He is going to contest Colonel Klliott's
8*?at on the ground that the polls wore
not opened in some of the precincts at
the proper hour.
Smalls owes his prominence in South
Carolina to a daring act which he perlurtaod
during the siege of Charleston in
lh? late war. He was pilot and knew
the harbor perfectly. Though in the
?ervic? of the Confederate government,
he naturally sympathized with the Federal
cause and watched for :ti; opportunity
to do it a service. One night he
succeeded in stealing the steamer
MManter," having won the crew over to
his plot, ran it past the Confederate gun?
boat and Fort Sumter, and delivered it
to the yankee lleet at daybreak next
morning. Il was converted into a gunboat,
and under the pilotage of Smalls
did efficient service against Charleston.
For this bold act he was kept on the
the pay-roll of the Union nav}' during
the war, and Congress passed an act appropriating
to him half the assessed
value of the steamer, about $20,000, I
think. The other half went to the crew
who came out with Smalls.
Hiram 1'. Hovels, of Mississippi, was
the first nagro to occupy a seat in the
' United States Senate. He served from
18G9 to 1875. When he went out another
negro, Blanche K. Bruce, came in
from the same State. He retired from
the Senate in 1881, and was at once appointed
hv President Uai field Register
of the Treasury. He held that position
until President Cleveland put General
Bosccrans in his place about eighteen
months ago. Bruce owns two large
plantations in Mississippi, and is worth
$200,000. He lives in Washington in a
house of his owu and in considerable
style. His wife is so light that she lu
generally mistaken for a white woman.
Bevels is farming in Mississippi and is
1 M-. -?1 T? -i ?
?ui> uu. iiu &nu urucu are me omy
two negroes who ever reached the Senate.
There have been thirteen negroes
in the House of Representatives. South
Carolina has sent six of these, viz.,
Robert B. Elliott, Joseph II. Rainey,
Richard H. Cain, Robert C. Do Large,
Alonxn J. ltanftier, and Robert Smalls.
~nrrrT
' Alabama sent these thre?, Benjamin F.
Turner, Jere liarilson, and James T.
Rapier. Mississippi elected John R.
Lynch. Josiah T. Walls came from
Florida, James E. O'Hara has had three
terms from North Carolina and Jeff
Long, of Macon, is Georgia's solitary
contribution of African biood to Congress
The forty-third Congress had the
heaviest colored representation ever
known. Revels, of Mississippi, was in
the Senate, and in the House there were
the following six members: Walls, of
Florida; Rapier, %'of Alabama; Elliott,
Cain, Rainey and Ransier. of Sonth Carolina.
It was in that Congress that Elliott
made his famous speech in support
of the civil frights bill. It was one of
the most eloquent elVorts of the season
and creatcd decidedly a greater sensation
than any other spccch of the year, because
it came from a colored man. Elliott
had graduated at Harvard ami was
really an accomplished man, besides being
one of rare uatural abilities. He was
not of pure blood, but the African strain
largely predominated. Elliott practiced
law successfully for several years after
leaving Congress, and died in South
Carolina.
Elliott and Lynch were tho two most
intellectual negroes of all that ever held
seats in Congress. Lynch was almost
as good a speaker as Elliott, and was his
superior in many respects. He had a
better address, was more liberal in his
views, and had more friendships among
his white colleagues than any colored
man could ever claim in Congres. Secretary
Lamar always thought highly of
him, and when L3*nch was in the House
and Lamar in the Senate they consulted
about Legislation directy affecting Mis
sissippi as often as any two members
from thai State. Lynch was the temporary.
chuirman of the lust national
rei>ul)lical convention, defeating Powell
Clayton, of Arkansas, for that office, litis
now farming in Mississippi, and has
forsworn politics.
The roughest negro of all thnt have
been in Congress was Turner, of Alabama.
lie had been a hostler all his
life and had become the proprietor of a
peripatetic breeding stable. His
acquaintance with the negroes of his
aistrjet and his natural boldness pushing
him ahead of the smarter negro
politicians, secured kim a seat in Congress.
lit- was a heavy set, rough fellow
who was queerlv out of place while
here, and since his retirement has sunk
into obscurity, llainev, of South Carolina,
a sensible man, after leaving Ccngross,
entered the wood and coal business
in Washington, and is doing well
at it.
It may be said of all the negroes who
have yet been sent to Congress that they
have deported themselves while in
public life remarkably well. Not one o!
them was ever mixed up in a congres
sional scandal, though they were thickest
here when the lobby was boldest and
Congress most corrupt. They huve
uniformly been decent in their conduct,
and regular in their attention to public
duty. Only one or two of them have
been of that class of professional negroes
of which Fred Douglass is the type and
several of them have been among the
most advanced leaders of their race in
the direction of intelligent industry and
?*r?f?d oitiionshin
O l"
Considering their circumstances, the
natural prejudice against them, and their
opportunities to (it themselves for public
life, they have done remarkably well
and have inerrited the respect and kind
regard which they have generally received
at the hands of their white colleagues
in Congress.?Atlanta Constitution.
A Sure .Sign.
Every established local newspaper receives
subscriptions from large cities,
which puzzle the publishers, but which
the New York Times explained as follows:
"A wholesale merchant in this
"Vsity who had become rich at the business,
says his rule is, that when he sells
a bill of goods on credit, to immediately
subscribe for the local paper of Iiih
debtor. So long as his customer advertised
liberally and vigorously, he rested,
but as soon as he began to contract his
advertising space, he took the fact as
evidence that there was trouble ahead,
and invariably went for tho debtor."
Said he: 4,The man who is too poor to
make his business known, is too poor to
do business." Tho withdrawal of an
advertisement is evidence of weakness
that the business men aro not plow to
act upon.? Kx.
. - '< v
V. .' ,'v. '
A Horror of tlie Kail.
Tiffin, Ohio, January 4.?The fast
train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
which left New York about 9 o'clock
yesterday for Chicago, with five coaches
and four sleepers, all well filled with
passengers, colided with an eastern
bound freight train, seven miles east of
this city, about 4 o'clock this morning.
The fast train was about fifty minutes
late and was running at the rate of sixty
files an hour. Passing Republic, a small
Ktnlinn liko n find) it rnclinil nlnnir tn n
curve one mile west of that town, when
suddenly the engineer saw the freight
train under full headway within ono
hundred yards of him. He at once
applied the brakes and reversed the
engine, but it did no good, and the next
instant the crash came, telescoping the
coaches and piling them up on each
other. To add consternation to the
horrible scoue fire broke out in the
smoking car and soon spread to the other
cars. Many were killed outright, while
others, wedged in among the broken
ears, were slowly consumed by the
flames.
The screams of the wounded and
dying were heartrending, but no assistance
could be given until the farmers,
awaked by the crash, came, and with
other neighbors worked like heroes to
R)ivr> tlm norisliinrr. At this wrilinf
? " x- - e- - o
nineteen dead bodies have been recovered,
and they lie 'ourned and disfigured
in the snow beside the track. Help
was sent from Republic and this city as
soon as the news was received. It is a
fearful sight and recalls the Ashtabula
horror of the winter of 1877.
The engines were run into each other
as one stove pipe fits into its mate, and
all that could be seen was a ehaoiic
mass of brass, iron and steel. At an j
early hour there were hundreds of poo- '
pie coining to the scene of tho disaster,
ready and anxious to know what to do
and how they could heljJ any of the
unfortunate sufferers who might need
help, but it appears that just as s?on as
the Baltimore and Ohio agents could get
to the work they carried out of the
county the wounded, dying and dead.
It is believed that there were at least
twenty two bodies, b'roin the report of
a survivor it would appear that a number
of the unfortunates were so thoroughlynot
burned that their remains could
be gathered from the debris. Only three
survivors remain at Republic. These are
Mrs. Mary Postleth waite and two young
children. Her husband and two sons,
aged eleven and eighteen, were killed.
They were emigrating from Belton,
Wetsell County, Ya., to Chilicothe,
Missouri. In some way, even the mother
was unable to relate how, she got out
of the car in which she had been travel
ling, and, wandering away from the
burning train, carrying her two youngest
children in her arms, she entered
the first house in which she found a
light. She was almost crazed, and with
difficulty her name was ascertained.
Baltimore, January 4.?The officials
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad state
that the freight train collision was
caused by a misunderstanding of orders
for the regulation of one or other of the
trains.
Liiicoin'fl Rcverence for Woman.
In the January Century Nieolay and
Hay introduce as follows their account i
of Lincoln's love affairs: "Upon a tern- i
perainent thus predisposed to look at
things in their darker aspect, it might :
naturally be expected that a love-affair
which was not perfectly happy would 1
he productive of great misery. But
Lincoln seemed especially chosen to tho
keenest suffering in such a conjuncture.
The pioneer, as a rule, was comparative- .
ly free from any troubles of the imagination.
To quote Mr. McConnell again: <
'There was no romance in his [the i
pioneer'sj composition. He had no
dreaminess; mediation was no part of i
his mental habit; a poetical fancy would, 1
in him, have been an indication of i
insanity. If he reclined at the foot of a
tree, on a still summer day, it was to
sleep; if ho gazed out over the waving <
prairie, it was to scarch for the column
nf Rtnnko which tnlrl nf his onomioe'
approach; if he turned his eyes towards
the blue heaven, it was to prognosticate
to-morrow's rain or sunshine. If lie
bent his gaze townrds the green earth it <
was to look for "Indian sign" or buffalo
trail. His wife was only a helpmate; i
ho never thought of making a divinity
of her. But Lincoln could never have
/'*4 :X tyf- '? &
> } i; . v'y- -m-v:-.
claimed this happy immunity from ideal
trials. I lis published speeches show
how much the pont in him was constantly
kept in check; and at this time of his
life his imagination was sufficiently alert
to inflict upon him the sharpest anguish.
11 is reverence for women wns so deep
im?1 tnnilor that Kn >?? iniu??f
one of them was a sin too heinous to he
'xpinled. No llamlet, dreaming amid
the turrets of Llsinor<>, no Sidney creating
a chivalrous Arcadia, was fuller of
mystic and shadowy fancies of the worth
and dignity of women than this hack
woods politician. Few men ever lived
more sensitively and delicately tender
towards the sex."
That llaby Wedding.
The Charlotte Chronicle of Saturday
says: "Yesterday's Chronicle contained
an account of the runaway marriage of
two youthful persons at Spartanburg
and of the arrival here :>f the young
girl, in charge of her father, Ool. .Joseph
Walker. As stated in yesterday's paper,
Col. Walker placed his daughter on
the North-hound train to send her to a
place of refuge in the North, and, this
done, the distressed father felt relieved.
Bui his troubles were not vet at an end.
An hour after the train went out he received
a telegram that the girl's husband
was on board the very train which carried
her out of Charlotte. Col. Walker
telegraphed to have the couple stopped
nt Greensboro, and this was successfully
done. Col. Walker left here on
the next train for that point, whore he
found his daughter, and to make everything
safe, he went on with the young
lady as her special escort to her destination.
The old folks are mighty hard to
get away with, sometimes. We loam,
in addition to the above, that when the
runaway couple stopped at Greensboro
the bride registered at the Hen bow,
while the groom went to the McAdoo
House. Tlu groom was accompanied
by his mother, Mrs. Harris, and yesterday
they passed through Charlotte on
the return to their home at Spartanburg.
Mr. Harris, the 3*outhful groom stated
that tlie marriage was not upon the impulse
of the moment, but on the contrary
it was fully considered and all the
pla laid some time ago. He said he
and Miss Walker had been engaged for
three years, and that their early marriage
was frequently contemplated. He
further stated that he would now return
homo and institute proceedings against
the parties for abduction.
Loritig and Stonewall Jackson.
In the death of General Loring exConfederates
find a theme of recollection
and anecdote of his quarrel with
Stonewall Jackson, whose services were
nearly lost to the Confederate government
by the disagreement between himself
and Loring during what is known in
Confederate memories as the "Romney
Campaign." Jackson earned his designation
of "Stonewall'' at the first Manassas,
where General Arnold Elzey illustrated
Maryland soldiership. Jackson's
brigade of Virginians from the
valley and southwest Virginia thereafter
lived in the legends of Lee's army as
the "Stonewall brigade." The Confederate
authorities early recognized the
Khcnandn&h vnll<?v an imnnrtmif. mili.
tary artery. Late in 1861 Jackson was
sent with his old brigade to that region,
and Loring, who had been Gen. Lee's
successor in command of the troops
west of Staunton, reinforced him in the
neighborhood of Winchester. The
"Romney campaign" was directed against
Gen. B. 1?\ Kelley on the Union side. It
was fruitful of nothing save guttering to
the Confederate soldiers. Jackson and
Loring did not agree from the outset.
Jackson's taciturnity annoyed Loring,
who was Becond in command. Confederate
soldiers of that time told with relish
how "Old Jack" told his inquisitive
lieutenant, who wished to know his plan
r>f campaign, that if his coat-tail contained
that information he would hurt)
it." Loring was a favorite with Mr.
Davis, who has always had a natural
partiality foi the veterans of the Mexican
war. in which Loring lost an arm.
Governor Letcher, to whom Jackson
Kent his resignation in consequence of
Loring's disobedience of orders and the
frt i 1 II rn Af 1o f\in foi1i?ratn
. V/ V..W WWII IVMV I U U VI IllllVillb
to sustain him in resisting thnt disobodioncc,
had great difficulty in reconciling
the differences between Gen. Jackson
and the Confederate government. The
failure to gain the territory traversed by
the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was a bit
,}* :'<J. :<& ' . \ j*; . . ; v
&? **' a-'';':.1. ' i-.v, '
ter disappointment and severe disaster]
to the Richmond authorities. Loring
was recalled to Richmond and there
freely expressed his disgust with the results
of the campaign, placing all the
hlamc on Jackson. To Gen. John R.
Clark, of Missouri, father of the present
clerk of tho House, and to General Read,
of Kentucky, near whom Loritig had
fallen in the 'assault upon tho City of
Mexico. Loring expressed his contempt
| in the Spotswood hotel, at Richmond,
for Jackson ns a "hypocrite in religion
and a pretender in soldiership." And
this characterization of .Jackson preceded
hy only six months Jackson's exploits
in the Valley which gave him
worldwide fatno.
At a later period Loring had a splendid
command in the Kanawha Valley,
and Oen. J. D Cox, Grant's first secretary,
of the interior, enticed him to follow
the Union forces so far from all
railroad connections as to make it impossihlo
for Loring to got to Lee's help
in the desperate struggle at Antieta:n'
whore Cox got to McClellan's help, one
of his wounded colonels there being
Rutherford R. Hayes, of lhe4twcnty-third
Ohio regiment. At the time Loring was
freely charged in the South with disobedience
of orders, growing out of his
unwillingness to he put under Stonewall
Jackson's ordors. On. Loring,
while having litlle success in his oporations
i.. Virginia, retained the confidence
?r \tr n.,,.:-, ~ ?
WI ... . . J'.. .1.-1. ?v<> n uiTinmil ill lilt: III IIIY
of l'emberton at Vicksburg. 110 escaped
the surrender at that post with his division.
losing his artillery.
Iiimlettu'H Advico to Yoiuic Men.
To young men IJob Burdetto says:
"Yon tarce a basin of water, place your
linger in it for twenty*five or thirty
seconds, take it out and look at the hole
that is left. The size of the hole represents
about tho impression that advice
makes on a young man's mind.
Don't depend too much on your family?the
dead part I mean. Tho world
wants live men; it has no use for dead
ones; Queen Victoria can trace her ancestors
back in a direct lino to William
the Conqueror. If you cannot get
r..1 1. ???
iuiiiu-i i>.n.rw liiuii ^iiur miner, you arc
bettor otf. He was better oft' than old
William. lie had betler clothes to
wear, hctter food to cat, and was better
housed.
If you are a diamond, l?c sure that
you will be found. Cheek, brass or gall
never gets ahead of merit.
I love a man who is straightforward.
If you want to marry a rich man's
daughter or borrow $500 from him. ask
him for it; it amounts to the same thing
in the end. It is always better to astonish
a man than to bore him.
Remember that in the morning of life
come the hard-working days. Hard
work never kills a man. It's fun, recreation.
relaxation, holidays, that kill. The
fun that results in a head the next morn- j
ing so big that a hat could hardly cover
it, is what kills. Hard work never does.
Those who come after us have to work
just as hard as we do. When I shovel
ihe snow off my sidewalk, if pcrchance
I take a three-quarter piece of my neighbor's
walk, I put it back, because if I
didn't I should be doing him an injustice.
You can't afford to do anything
but what is good. You are on a dress
parade all the time. Don't be afraid of
being called a crank. If you have one
idea you have more than most men
hftVO Tf t ft L" nc q omnrf *n?t? ?
" * v vw.?v? M W IUUII IU uu it
crank.
After Many Years. .
Macon, Ga., January 5.?Secretary
Lamar was married this morning at 10
o'clock, at the residence of the bride,
by Rev. W. M. Park, of Sa^dersville, to
Mrs. William S. Holt, of Macon. Those
present at the marriage were Captain
R. E. Park, W. P. Virgin, Colonel J. E.
Jones and their wives (daughtors of the
bride), Dr. It. M. Patterson and wife,
and Major W. II. Ross and wife. At 10
o'clock the Secretary and the bride entered
the parlor with joined hands. The
ceremony was brief and original, lasting
only two minutes. Congratulations followed.
The bride was dressed in steel
pray silk, with ornaments of diamonds.
The Socrotary and his bride left at 5.20
this afternoon to spend the evening
with Governor Gordon, and to-morrow
morning they will leave for Gxford,
Miss., to visit relatives of the Secretary,
and then go to Washington. 1
Subscnbc to Thb Messexoeb. i
... v : isi .t '
I A. Final Effort.
Mr. William Ii. Cluverius, who has
worked so hard and with commendable
devotion for his brother, the condemned
murderer of Miss Fannie Lillian Madi
son. has sent the following circular to
the various members of the Legislature:
' Richmond, Va., Dec. 28, 1886.
"Dear Siu: I address you in behalf of
my brother, T. J. Cluverius, whoue circumstances
are well known to every one
in the State. It has been suggested to
me that his life might be saved through
action hy the Legislature ir. some way,
as a co-ordinate department of the government,
since many members of that
body have expressed their conviction
that his life should not bo taken. I have
heard that the Legislature will certainly
be called together about the first of
Febuary next. My object in addressing
you is to make the request that you send
to me an application, addressed to tho
Governor frosn yourself, requesting him
to grant a reprieve to my brother until
some day ufter tho Legislature shall
meet, in order that they may have an opportunity
of taking action, if deemed
right and judicious. The dny fixed for
the execution is the 14th of January,
and I should like a response before tho
5 th.
"[ will not undertake'to urge tho reasons
in favor of this request or to make
suggestions as to what action can bo
taken, i leave both to your intelligent
appreciation of facts known to all.
"This request I will male of all tho
members of the Legislature, or bo many,
at least, its I can reach, and will leave
tneir action to their own sense of justice*
and fairness, and to their desire that the
laws of the State shall bo equally and
properly executed, and a fair trial had
by an impartial jury?a right guaranteed
to every man.
"My address is Ford's Hotel, in this
city.
"Very respectfully,
"W. B. Cluykriub."
This final eftort of Mr. Cluverius to
save his brother's life is natural, but it
must be abortive under any circumstances.
Ever should the Governor respite
the condemned man, and call an
extra session of the Legislature, nothing
could be done for him.The Legislative,
executive and judical departments of
the State Government are seperato, distinct
and independent. The Legislature,
therefore, could not interfere with the
action of the courts, nor could it pass a
law to pardon Cluverius, since the pardoning
power belongs exclusively to the
Executive. It could not oven pass a law
making it illegal to hang a man who had
not testified in his own behalf, that
would not apply to the case of Cluverius.
since such a law would bo ex post facto%
and so, unconstitutional, null and void.
Thorn -*
?..v.w iu iiicu, 111 mid iuua ui
Legislative interferonco in behalf of the
doomed man. From present appearances,
nothing short of miraculous interposition
can save him from the gallows
two weeks from to-morrow.?Richmond
Whig, Dec. 31.
Preachers in Politics.
Wo are not in favor of calling a constitutional
convention at this timo. but fi
such a convention is called we have one
suggestion to make, and it is that the
section of our old constitution which
prohibits ministers of the gospel engaging
in politics, be re-enacted.
We yield to no one in reverance for
the office of ministers of the gospel. Indeed,
their work is far too sacred and
highly exalted above other avocations to
b? dragged into* tho dubious paths of
politics. Although history tells of
States and Kingdoms that have failed to
survice a union between Chusch and
State, wo see even in freo America; and
afi*QnrpAV olill in ?
6vi nvin, 111 UUUtll UalUIIIIH UUIllHters
who forsake the work of the Mastor
to enjoy tho honor of their fellowmen?such
honor as comes from hold*
ing a public office. Quito a number of
ministers are members of the present
legislature of South Carolsna. From a
close observation of the proceeding* of
the lato session, we say emphatically
that they are out of place.?The legislature
is not tho place for sermons although
each of the cterical legislators
have taken occasion to deliver sermons
at a cost to the State of from $300 to ^
$400 each. These mouthy members are
responsible for the hurried legislation
that always results when timo in wasted
in high-flown, irrelevant oratory.
The work of a minister is of greater
importance even than that of a legislator
yet it is different, and we think should
bo performed separate and apart from
legislative work.?Laurent Advertiser.